Forever more
by Tardisblue-teaboy
Summary: Ianto dies but Jack needs to know that he is there, forever.


Hey, Tardisblue-teaboy here. This is my first ever story, just a janto one shot. Rated for language.

Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood but if I did, Janto would live forever and I would be married to Gareth David-Lloyd.

So that's it, hope you enjoy the story. Oh, and feel free to review :)

Jack stared down at the body in front of him. There were no outside signs of distress. The suit, oh that suit, was still in immaculate condition. There was not a hair on the head that was out of place. His face hadn't even faded into the chalky white pallor of death. Jack's eyes slowly travelled upwards until finally coming to rest on the face of his beloved Ianto Jones. With his right hand, he reached up to caress the smooth, pale skin of Ianto's cheek.

Glassy eyes stared back at Jack. The bluest blue that resided in the irises was now without that spark of life. Jack would never see those eyes flash with mischief ever again. With the hand that was still gently rubbing the skin on his cheek, Jack reached out two fingers and slowly closed the eyes that he would never see again. Not once did he look away, but held the dead man's gaze until it was no longer visible beneath his eyelids. Jack slowly brushed the long, downy eyelashes and sighed.

"Oh Ianto. My Ianto. Why did you have to leave me this way? I was going to stay with you for the rest of your life. I was going to fuck you silly every night and then lie peacefully in your arms. I was going to watch you grow old and take care of you and support you and love you for as long as I could, but this is Torchwood, this is what it does to people. It steals their loved ones away from them, forever."

Jack looked down at Ianto with tears in his eyes, he didn't know what to do. He leaned in closer and kissed Ianto's high forehead softly, before brushing the hair away from his face. He rocked Ianto's corpse gently, continuing to stroke his hair. Jack Harkness sat with this dead body in his arms, and he wept for the man he loved, the one man who had ever seen the true side of him, the man who needed so badly but now he was gone forever.

He sat up and wiped his face with the back of his hands, only for the tears he had managed to remove to be replaced by fresh ones.

"I had to do it Ianto," he said, looking down at his young lover "I had to think of a way to save the world, all by myself, without you there beside me. And I killed him Ianto." His voice shook as he admitted the truth to himself. "I killed Stephen," he whispered shamefully. "I'm thinking that maybe if you had been there with your clever mind and your quick notions, maybe, just maybe you would have talked me out of it. What's that amount of children that the 456 wanted worth when I lost you and Stephen today? What's anything worth compared to seeing you everyday? Shit Ianto why the hell did you do this to me?! I need you Ianto, I need you forever. Who's gonna be there for me now when I die huh? I'm so used to waking up with my head cradled in your lap, now I'll have to face that alone." Jack sniffed, long and loud, and shook his head at his own stupidity. "I should never have let you out into the field, I know we needed you when Tosh and Owen…" he couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence, so took a deep breath and carried on "but I should have hired some new members, people who I didn't know so well, they should be here, not you, never you Ianto."

Jack looked up at the ceiling and squeezed his eyes tight, forcing the last two drops of moisture from his eyes. He slowly manoeuvred himself so that both his arms were beneath Ianto and lifted him up as easily as if he were three feet instead of six. Jack carried Ianto out of the dismal room of the dead and down the hallway to the front doors.

"Sir, you can't remove any bodies from that room. The information hasn't been released to the public yet and they may still be carrying the virus from the 456."

Jack turned to the soldier who was speaking to him and gave him 'the look'. "Torchwood." He said simply, and stalked out of the building. The soldier watched him leave and then muttered something into his comms. The reply from his higher ups came almost immediately. "I think Jack Harkness has suffered enough for the sake of the public today, leave him be." A soft sigh could be heard at the end of this sentence and the soldier nodded to himself, today had been hard on everyone, he thought as he turned around and strode back into the room with the red bags, wishing he was somewhere else.

Jack had carried Ianto out to the SUV that had finally been located and laid him carefully on the back seat. He then walked round to the drivers side of the car and slid in, to upset to bother about stupid things like his seatbelt and speed limits and the goddamned police, he sped back to the hub as fast as he could.

Once he had gotten Ianto's body down on the invisible lift and from there up to his office, he gave Ianto a quick peck on the cheek before rushing down to the vaults, where he had something stored that he had not confided even to Ianto. The item in question was a tank, a tank filled with the same liquid that contained the Doctor's hand. Jack spent half an hour hauling it up to his office before he gently lowered it down into his now very cramped little room. He then again picked up Ianto's body and followed down after the tank.

After laying Ianto down on his bed and staring at the corpse with damp eyes for a minute or two, he pushed the tank up against the wall next to his bed and pressed a few buttons on his wrist strap so that the top slid open with ease. He then picked up Ianto once again and pressed a hard, passionate kiss to the man's cold mouth. It was Jack's final farewell to his beloved Ianto.

Jack had never been a man of many words when it came to expressing how he felt, so it was fitting that this would be the way that he told Ianto goodbye. As he kissed Ianto, he realised just how much he needed to be kissed back, how difficult it was going to be without Ianto holding him at night, once again Jack wept. As he did so he slowly lowered Ianto into the tank of preservative and closed the lid over him.

"I'm not going to say goodbye to you Ianto, I don't think I could bear it. I know this is a selfish thing to do and you deserve a proper burial, but if you had to die I need to know that you are still here next to me, safe and sound, forever more."


End file.
